Fredman:<br><br>I agree with the bulk of what you have said, but as I said in my earlier post, Hansons book, though remarkably objective for an unbeliever, is still secular in it's viewpoint and does attribute the phenomena solely to hysteria, which some of it undoubtedly was, but some of it undoubtedly was not, and Hanson, not seeing Satan for who and what he is does not credit his powers. Also, while Cotton Mather was instrumental in bringing an objective position to the error of some of the other Puritans, there was, as you correctly point out, considerable problems with the handling of the situation by several of them, not the least of which was their political mixed motives, in addition to their faulty theology. <br><br>Gerry
